Whats Little Snow like???
 

Hi,ive seen all specifications but havent herd from any Snow users yet.Are there any Snow users that could tell me a bit about it?

How it sounds?
Is it easy to edit?
Is it very limited beside his older brothers?
Is it easy to use on live sets?
And basicly,is it worth the money you pay,because for 500euros more you can get the TI Desktop?

Hi, exactly my thoughts. After 4 weeks of deep thinking and writing down all pros and cons, this is what happened today ;)

This morning I ordered my TI Desktop, later this day I noticed that the Snow is in stock and this made me change my order ! Just a minute ago I received the shipment confirmation. The Snow should be in my hands tomorrow or friday :p

I've got a 30 day money-back guarantee, so let's wait and see if the "little" virus can meet my/our expectations...

Just a quick thought:
I'm not a "professional producer"...I make music just in my spare-time AND mainly for fun ! So maybe I'm not the best benchmark. But I think, that I most likely won't need 16 multi-timbral thingies, 2 DSPs, tons of knobs, etc. Which might be different, if you are trying to make money with your virus as a producer / composer/ or sound designer.

Maybe there will be - some fine a day - a situation where I wish, I had more multi-sounds, DSP-power for effects, etc. But hey, I saved more than 600 EURO-bucks on this littler sucker compared to the big TI. Money that I surely will spent on some other rarely needed gear ;) So what the hell...:D

In addition to that, I travel quite often in my main job and therefore really liked the idea of having a virus "to-go" (I should trademark this *gg*).

To make a long story short: yes, it seems to be a bit of a compromise, but for me personally!! it seems to be bearable.

Anything I should check, when the little smacker arrives ?

-Cheers LQdb

Ok, after a few testing sessions here's what I think:

- first of all: the Ti Snow looks cute :-)

- it is quite easy and fast to edit the sounds:

most patches have five common parameters laid out on the five knobs (named: Value1-3, Cutoff, Reso). So you can quickly change (as always) cutoff and resonance but also lets say: Phaser Rate, Elevate, Hype if it was assigned to the VALUE1-3-knobs (or you change it as needed).

Changing "deeper" parameters, is a little bit more tricky: push EDIT button, select the Edit menu (e.g. OSC1) with the approp. button and change 3 OSC-paramters via Value-knobs at a time (e.g. density, Local detune, Balance).

I think for most live sessions these three parameters on the VALUE1-3 knobs will be enough, in studio situations you may use the TI-software anyway.

- yes, it plays (all) TI-patches: i've tried various sounds from the incl. TI ROM banks, sounds ok to me, like patches on a TI desktop!?

- one DSP - too weak ?
Hmm, maybe yes, note-stealing beginns with two complex patches already in seq-mode. Putting 4 more complex patches together will surely "kill" the little snow. For heavy studio production situations with 6 or more complex patches playing at the same time via sequencer, you may wish to have the bigger TI Destop.

- glitches ?
-Yes, Ableton Live 7 (demo) crashed several times operating with the TI software, under Logic 8 it seems to be more stable.
-The sound via USB1-2 sounds rather flat to me ?! All my VSTi (all set to 0db) "overpowered" somehow the virus patches. Had to push the virus track up to +5db to level this out ??! Maybe i did something wrong, donno.
-Doing some realtime bouncing in Logic gave me some strange blips und cracks from time to time. (I used the recommended Logic settings from the video tutorial on my MacBookPro 2Ghz).

Conclusion: nice little smacker, but surely not as powerful as his bigger brothers. More suiteable for live-sessions playing 1-2 complex patches. It's more the "live session" virus, as it is less "the entry-level music production virus" IMHO.

Will I keep it ?
-Don't know yet. Depends on my future "workflow" needs. If the little virus is only to play some unique Lead sounds in my tracks, I'll keep him. If I'll find out, that I always use drums, leads, pads from the virus in my tracks, the snow is too weak and bouncing 4 tracks to audio and continue the production workflow with another 4 tracks from the virus, will be a pain in the *#&%&. Thank god for the 30-day-money-back guarantee, Though decision :confused:

-Cheers LQdb

This is the only part that puzzles me. Everything else seems about what I expected from the Snow.

My experience with the Virus TI has been that it sounds quite bold compared to my other hardware. The Evolver is the only one in the same ballpark.

Actually, when I first got the thing a few months ago I initially freaked out because the signal from it was so hot (with or without USB). It sounded much more full and better than most everything I'd ever used up to that point. I knew I needed to reach a higher plateau.

I've since sold off loads of gear to upgrade my AD/DA signal chain and even bought an Eventide Eclipse.

Now it's on.

Would love to hear more (sounds!)

How is the overall build quality? Comparable to other Access gear?

Does Snow ship with 2.7 (Atomizer) installed?

Congrats on the purchase! Mine should be here Wednesday!

The overall build quality is excellent. Solid metal case, nice knobs, good display. IMHO it is abs. comparable to the other Access gear.

The Snow comes with OS 2.7.0.37 (dated 23-March 2008 ). The TI software has to be downloaded from the website. The Snow comes without a CD. Just download the 2.7beta. During installation the Snow OS will be autom. updated (at least under Mac OS, still shows 2.7.037 though).

The sounds are IMHO equal to the sounds on other TIs...the content of the "normal" TI ROMs are included.

Hope you enjoy your little snow flake :)

-Cheers LQdb

Thanks for posting! Just a couple of quick questions...

Is the power supply for Snow a "wall wart" or a "lump in line"? I assume the latter but I'm just curious as I want to make room on my power strip now!

When using ti patches form the Access Music site, does it automatically overwirte the factory sounds on the Snow or is there room to accomodate these new patches?

How is the case build-quality-wise for the Snow? Is it on par with Timbuk2 bags or anything similar?

Sorry to be asking these questions if they seem annoying. I jhust can't wait until Wedneday!

If you have the chance, I would love to hear some demos! You are just the first person I have met that has received thier Snow! Lucky you!

No problem :-)

I don't exactly know what you mean by "wall wart", I've posted some photos the other thread. There you can see the power-jack on the backside of the Snow.

When applying TI patches via the TI control software in your DAW, you can choose what to do, put it into a RAM bank or just keep them temp. as a LIB sound for just the actual session.

The bag seems to be of good, almost high quality. Nice velcro strips on the outside, good zipper, comfort shoulder strap. Looks quite fancy...

I've got good connections to the german supplier ;)

So, what's the make or buy point between a Ti desktop and a Snow? If you use more than one Virus Ti patch in a track is the Snow a No-Go, or is it some other breakpoint???

I have only ever used my Virus KC in single mode while recording, MultiMode is a pain in the arse as far as I'm concerned, maybe life is different with a Ti, I wouldn't know...

;)

I wouldn't say that the Snow can't handle more than one patch. I've just startet a new tune, where the Snow uses all four available tracks with rather simple sounds (Kickdrum, Bassline, Pad, Lead) and as far as I can hear it, no note-stealing so far *keep-fingers-crossed*

But you're right, it depends on your personal production workflow. And that's why I ended up buying the Snow.

I think that I wanted the typical Virus sound and was sure that I won't need 8-16 patches playing at the same time. But most Ti desktop users seem to do so.

"Hey, the TI software offers 16 slots, let's use them" ;)

I think, if the Snow will be the only HW-Synth in your setup, you better buy a Ti Desktop. If you are a sound-designer kinda guy who need all the knobs, buy the TI desktop.

If you just want the typical Virus-sound for your Lead etc. sounds and a "small" entry-price to the virus world, go for the Snow.